[Cardiogenic shock in the acute phase of myocardial infarction]. / Le choc cardiogenique a la phase aigue de l'infarctus du myocarde.

Cardiogenic shock (CC) is the most common cause of death in acute myocardial infarction (MI) and it has been often associated with fatal evolution. The aim of this study is to emphasize the positive impact of myocardial revascularisation especially percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA) on short and mid term survival of 35 patients hospitalised for acute MI with CC. All the 11 patients who were on conventional therapy died, whereas the hospital mortality rate of the 24 patients who underwent primary PTCA was 41%. PTCA in CC complicating MI is highly effective and reduces the mortality rate in the literature from 80% to 40%. For this reason PTCA should be performed in each case of MI with CC seen in the first 6 hours.